Minister's Letter for September 2018

by Judy Povey | Posted at 11:45am on 14th September 2018

Dear Friends,
The year turns, and the new Church Year is upon us.
We see colour changes as autumn overtakes the bright, and parched, hues of summer, and we sense ‘change’ and brace ourselves for what lies ahead.
Since most of us haven’t touched base, together, for several weeks, in that strange seasonal way we have of thinking that we have all been on holiday, when some have and some haven’t, but we have all been estranged by circumstance and the nature of life (even if we haven’t physically gone anywhere), this ‘leader comment’ comes at a time when the landscape of church and community around us has, and will continue to face CHANGE.
Painters note the changes of season by things that are new or new again: landscape colours, the state of natural elements like trees, the presence or absence of flowers and birds.
Sometimes those changes are wrought by the forces of nature: changing temperatures, blowing winds, unblinking rays of the sun.
At other times, though, the changes come from within – in response to need, awareness of people and situations, recognition that we must stand on the Rock which brought us into existence, and in that precious relationship with God which must develop, adapt, and grow as surely as the buds of spring, the flowering of summer, and the fruitfulness of autumn.
When Spring comes, there are a handful of leaves that are brown and brittle but have refused to let go of the branches on which they grew. They have survived rain and wind, snow and ice. Ultimately, though, those brown and brittle leaves mostly fall, pushed from their branches not by external forces but by small, new green leaves that cannot be held back. Those small leaves do what the forces of nature could not.
What lies within is more powerful than what is outside (Ref. Mark 7:14/15).
We must not underestimate the task ahead, and the changes needed within ourselves, our church, our community, indeed the world, to faithfully follow where Jesus leads.
In the weeks ahead, in the changing seasons, the constant we must share is the power of prayer. Walk His way.
Rev Sue

For those living and working in Church Lane, be it within Alderley Edge County Primary School, private homes, or St. Philip and St. James, may they know that we hold each and every one in our prayers during this month.